Authentic Mexican Ground Beef Crispy Tacos Made by a Mexican

The finished taco. Magically delicious.

My mechanic, Victor Haro, is the best. He's a local Mexican-American who is a "car whisperer." He can fix and diagnose just about anything by tilting his head, listening and checking under the hood.

He knows I am a taco supafreak. I always try to take him for tacos but he prefers "ini" foods; linguini, fettucini, spaghetini and of course pizza and lasagna!

1-2 Tbl. of raw meat per taco.

Heated, stuffed, but still raw tacos ready to fry!

"One day, I'm going to make you a real 'Mexican' crispy taco. Not that Gringo shit you like to eat."

That day finally came. That day was Tuesday. I stopped off to give him some money I owed him, just in time to watch his brother David execute the family recipe.

Sizzle. Sizzle. Golden brown.

THEY WERE SO DAMN GOOD!!!!!

Here are some more pix and the recipe!

Victor's brother, David

Victor's Salsa: Jitomate, Jalapeno, Lechuga

FEEDS 4-6

Take 1 lb. of ground beef (or ground turkey if you really want.) Dice 1/2 a white onion and 1-2 jalapenos and 1 tbl. of cilantro. Mix well throughout the raw meat using a spoon.

Grab your corn tortillas, dry heat them for about 1 min on each side. You want them to heat enough to avoid cracking when you fold them but keep the heat low and don't add any oil. You are really just softening them a bit.

Put 1 heaping tbl of RAW meat inside the tortilla and fold it over. You can add a pizca of salt here - a pinch. Do this 12x or so.

Get a good frying pan nice and hot with about 1/4-1/2 inch of vegetable oil (not olive) in there.

Place your "raw" taco in the oil and fry on both sides over medium heat for about 12-15 min. (6 min. per side)

Drain into some paper towels.

Have your shredded cheese, shredded lettuce and chopped tomato ready to go!

GENTLY GENTLY GENTLY crack open your slightly cooled fried taco just enough to stuff some greenery inside. Shove it down carefully to avoid total crackage.

Garnish with your favorite salsa and CRUNCH AWAY.

Victor made his own salsa that was 3 large Roma Tomatoes, 3 weak Jalapenos and a big chunk of iceberg lettuce (for body) into the blender. Add salt and 2 Tbl. of chili powder.

CUIDADO! ESTOS TACOS SON PELIGROSAMENTE ADICTIVOS!!!!!!!

Taco Roundup #3 - The Hangman, San Jose Del Cabo, Nopalito SF, El Indio Redondo Beach

Cool Pony Lights at The Hangman (see separate post)

These are all the "Runner Ups" who didn't get their own blogposts over the last month or so. Throw them into the corral together. Yee-haw.

Margaret's Cocina 446 W Ventura St., Fillmore, CA - This place had promise. GREAT looking vintage buidling, crispy tacos and NO salsa bar to speak of. The people were nice but the chow just wasn't up to snuff. Edible yes. Memorable? No. Fillmore is filled with authentic looking places. I got suckered into this one by the sign and all the colors.

Margaret Cocina's Crispy Chicken Tacos

Nopalito 306 Broderick St., San Francisco CA - I wanted to LOVE this place. It was fun, modern, clever, organic, tasty BUT.... that weird "Is this healthfood?" feeling. I'm pretty sure I left feeling hungry though the food WAS tasty. I believe the taco tortilla was MUSHY. They have a mixologist on hand and lots of fresh juices. It actually feels more like LA than SF. Lots of young, skinny, pretty people eating pretty, healthy food. My friend absolutely loves it, but I can't see myself rushing back there on subsequent visits.

Swordfish Taco at Nopolito

Las Gardenas - Fabled fish taco place in Cabo San Lucas. It was off my radar. Pleasant, a bit touristy, good but not the greatest. Although where in Cabo is exactly is a better fish taco, I couldn't say. San Jose has Rosey's and informal stands. The MECCA is out in the country in Todos Santos and Pescadero.

Las Gardenas Fish Taco

JB Burgers - 627 South Myrtle Ave., Monrovia CA. Quick and casual burger joint. I drove by it 20 times before I realized I might find an old school crispy beef taco there. And I did. And it was good. Their breakfasts look particularly tasty and CHEAP.

JB Burger's Crispy Beef Taco

El Indio - 2523 Artesia Blvd, Redondo Beach CA. A local Institution. Cheap, quick, and easy. The girls are so nice. I LOVE their greasy THICK chips and crispy tacos. My friend enjoyed his massive burrito. Eat in or take it to go. Buy some chips!

Side of Rice and Beans at El Indio

Papito, French Fusion Tacos in San Francisco

Took me a year to get here, but I'm glad I finally did.

Really fun good tacos and as an added bonus, Pozole and Weekend Brunch.

Even though there is only 1 taco place in Paris, I guess the French aesthetic can inform the taco quite well in such fun items as Duck Confit Carnitas.

Here is what YELP has to say.

La Taqueria, The Best Burritos in San Francisco

It's been over a year since I had the chance to visit San Francisco. My dear friends live there but they are always coming to LA before I get a chance to go up there.

In a recent Sunset Magazine? showdown, LA beat SF for Best Food City by 3 votes. There really is nothing like it for highest concentration of great food in a small space. This city loves food in a way that is more authentic and respectful than LA's glitzy restaurant scene.

I of course had tacos on the brain and restricted myself from visiting old favorites like Tacolicious in favor of trying something new. When I asked about good tacos in the area, I got the same answer every time; La Taqueria. But people up here are funny. As a general rule they prefer burritos to tacos. I have no idea why, but someone should study that and get me a good answer.

The tacos were great AND they have crispy tacos which makes me love them even more. In 2013 it will be 40 years since they opened. The owner was such a charmer and I still don't know his name because other than Yelp, they don't seem to believe in Social Media (no web, facebook, twitter, etc.) which kind of makes me love them even more!

Bean and Cheese Crispy Taco at La Taqueria

Everything there is highly customizable. You pay a base price and then you pay for add-ons or you can always get one 'con todo' with everything on it for a set price as well. The crispy tacos come with a dry soft tortilla wrapped around them. This confused all of us at first but I later realized it was probably being used a blotter for the oil and to cool it down a bit. I had yet to see that in my taco travels.

OH! They also have the BEST AGUA FRESCA EVER! HELLO???? Yeah. Ground up strawberries for the Fresa and that day he had a Tangerine one as well and a Pineapple. All of them magically fresh with just the right amount of sugar. We took some home and made mixology cocktails with them.

Check out our video above with fabulous guest taco taster Zoe Sokatch who is only 7 but knows a good taco when she eats one.

Below video talks about La Cumbre's burritos, but it has a cool 'history of the Mission' section.

Taco Madness and the Top 10 Tacos in LA

It's that time of year again. TACO MADNESS is about to descend on taco lovers all over Los Angeles!

I was pleased to be asked this year for my opine. I love tacos, and I have eaten a ton of them since I began the quest of the Taco Maven in September of 2010.

There are a lot of great authorities on tacos in this town. Two of my favorites are The Great Taco Hunt (he focuses on trucks) and Street Gourmet LA (he focuses on all types of street food including the taco.)

A Top 10 taco list is a very personal thing. I prefer crispy tacos when I can get them, so my list is skewed in that direction. Quality is of course important as is innovation and the friendliness of the people serving the tacos. I recently visited La Taqueria in San Francisco and the owner has been charming his female customers with roses and special order requests for the last 40 years. The food is pretty simple, but the service takes it up a notch.

Another criteria is 'Where would I take an out-of-town taco eater?' Ideally, it's to a great place that has more than one good item and a comfy space to eat it in.

Taco Bell would NEVER make my list now, but back in 1980, their Tostada was the number one bribe my mother used to get me to do anything unpleasant (chores, Dr. visits, etc.)

No 1 - Mariscos Jalisco  The crispy shrimp taco with sliced avocado and cabbage salsa is HEAVEN. It hits the spot and so does the generous and fabulous owner, Raul. As a bonus, they have some of the best agua chile you've ever had as well.

No 2 - Guisados They change tacos weekly, they give you free soup, they make their own tortillas as you order, and they charm the pants off of you. Jonathan Gold is a fan of their super hot chile toreado taco which I recently tried. It's a mix of 4 chiles (habanero, serrano, jalapeno and red thai) with grilled onions and beans. That's it. Stellar.

No 3 - Mexicali Taco & Co I love these boys. They are the sweetest most hard working fellas around. But when I go there, I HAVE to get a Vampiro or a Cachetada and those aren't tacos. BUT they hands down make the best carne asada EVER in LA AND they give it to you in a flour tortilla which almost no one does. Maybe I can convince them to make me a crispy taco in their new cozy brick and mortar location at 702 N. Figueroa.

No 4 - El Tauro Taco Truck (I know, I know, everyone LOVES Leo's) Let me just say that on my birthday, I waited on line for an hour and had the worst Pastor ever. All fat, bone bits and gristle. They are sporadic with the Trompo (it's not Pastor without that) El Tauro on the other hand always makes me a perfect trompo pastor with extra pineapple. Their other tacos are good too. Friendly people who handle the line better than Leo's. I will try Leo's again but it was really GROSS. I have recently become a fan of La Chispita on Lankersheim as well.

No 5 - Ricky's Fish Tacos  Ricky is a doll. His batter is so amazing it tastes like KFC and that's a good thing. (I don't eat KFC, but it's very savory) He is an authentic cook with Baja roots making a great Baja fish taco. In some ways I prefer Tacos Baja Ensenada, but Ricky is closer and more unique. I like the shrimp ones best.

No 6 - Plancha  They are pretty terrific. Maybe the freshest, healthiest tacos around, free wifi, great sauces and salsas, open late, breakfast all day AND they will wrap your tacos in lettuce if you are on a diet. The sauce for the shrimp tacos is so so so tasty. YIKES. They give good tweet too and they are really nice.

No 7 - Malo Their crispy ground beef pickle taco is legendary. If we are talking about a 'go to' taco where I know it will be crunchy, tasty and perfect EVERY TIME and I can get a GREAT Angelina chile-dusted Margarita there? It's Malo. Now they have 2 locations and they also have great Happy Hours which I really appreciate. They will even make a vegetarian version of this taco for you with a tofu substitute that tastes pretty darn close.

No 8 - La Escuela Taqueria This place just opened about 6 months ago. Same owner as Cobras & Matadors (Steve Arroyo) They might win the innovation award for their crispy-skinned white fish taco. Their shredded beef crispy taco is orgasmic. Fun little cozy hip spot.

No 9 - Komida The seasonal Asian inspired taco stand at the Yamashiro Farmer's Market has busted out a shop near Highland and Hollywood Blvd. These are some great tacos, right down to the wasabe guacamole. Glad we can have them year 'round now.

No 10 - Tacomiendo I love this place, and not just for their clever pun on 'comiendo' which means 'eating'. The crispy potato and  crispy chicken tacos are both outstanding. The shells are thick and crisp, cotija cheese, great salsa, cheap. They really hit the spot. They also have salad and fresh juices. Sadly, their soft tacos are not up to snuff, but try the crispies and you won't be disappointed.

Vivan los Tacos!!! Let the games begin.